Zimbabwe's opposition leader has said that his country is facing a bleak future and looking at the precipice, as it struggles with economic crisis. But Morgan Tsvangirai told the BBC Zimbabweans were resilient and had a shared commitment to see the end of President Robert Mugabe's rule. This meant taking to the streets to express their discontent, he said. Zimbabwe is suffering food, fuel and foreign currency shortages, and inflation topped 1,000% in April. The opposition says Mr Mugabe's economic mismanagement has destroyed what was once one of Africa's most vibrant economies. Mr Mugabe blames the economic problems on sabotage by western nations opposed to his policy of land redistribution. ... http://news.bbc.co.uk

Pope Benedict XVI has visited the former Nazi death camp of Auschwitz in a symbolic end to his tour of Poland. The German-born Pope walked alone under the infamous "Arbeit Macht Frei" gate at the entrance to the camp, where he met survivors and said prayers. More than a million people, mostly Jews, were killed in the gas chambers of Auschwitz. The Pope had specifically insisted on visiting the camp. Earlier almost one million Poles gathered in Krakow as he led Mass. Pope Benedict was to have been driven everywhere during his visit, but the BBC's David Willey at Auschwitz said he wanted to walk around the camp and meditate alone. After entering the camp, he said a prayer in front of a reconstruction of the execution wall where Nazis lined up and shot thousands of prisoners. ...http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/5024324.stm

Israeli jets attacked Syrian-backed Palestinian and Lebanese guerrillas in Lebanon on Sunday, sparking gunbattles on the volatile border hours after rockets fired into northern Israel wounded an Israeli soldier. At least one Palestinian militant and a Lebanese Hizbollah fighter were killed in one of the worst bouts of violence since Israeli troops ended a 22-year occupation of south Lebanon six years ago. The Israeli army ordered residents living in northern areas to go to the bomb shelters after a clash between Hizbollah and Israeli soldiers near Kibbutz Menara and mortar and rocket fire into northern Israel, Israeli security sources said. Hizbollah guerrillas, backed by Syria and Iran, also attacked Israeli posts in the disputed Shebaa Farms border area, Lebanese witnesses said. ...http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=2014024

Seven people have died when a jeep carrying Sri Lankan tourists hit a landmine in a national park in the northwest of the country. The army found bodies in a destroyed jeep in Wilpattu National Park, near the area held by the Tamil Tigers. The park had reopened in 2003, after being closed for 17 years due to a conflict which has left 60,000 dead. The army said the Tamil Tigers were suspected, as "there is no-one else operating in those areas". Sri Lanka has been rocked by conflict since the Tamil Tigers (LTTE) launched their campaign for a separate state in the north of the country in 1983. ...http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/5025108.stm

Sen. Charles Schumer, a New York Democrat, said on Sunday his party will do "very very well" in November's mid-term elections but stopped short of saying Democrats will retake the U.S. Senate. "I think that we're going to do very very well," Schumer, one of the party's top political strategists, told CBS' "Face the Nation." "The American people want change ... because this administration has been incompetent. ... They see an administration that seems to substitute ideology and cronyism for competence." "The Republicans are not ahead in a single blue seat and we are even or ahead in five of theirs," Schumer said, in a reference to Republican "red" states mostly in the south and west and Democrat "blue" states mostly in north central and coastal regions of the country. If Americans continue to vote for the Democrats or the Republicans after being showing that both these parties are corrupted beyond repair then they deserve these ass holes...http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060528/pl_nm/congress_democrats_dc

A father threw his two children from a 15th floor balcony before jumping to his own death, police have said. Edward van Dyk, 43, killed his two sons - aged four and eight - when he tossed them from a hotel balcony in Miami. Van Dyk's wife Qinuo, 40, spotted him as he leapt from the balcony, and only then saw the bodies of her two children lying motionless many floors below. Mrs van Dyk told police that the couple were having marital problems, but were marking their 10th wedding anniversary. "It's a terrible tragedy," said Miami Beach Police spokesman Bobby Hernandez. The killings took place at the Loews Hotel in the famous art-deco district of Miami's South Beach. "It's unfortunate that this gentleman was so selfish and in an effort to get back at his wife he took the two most loved people in the world away from her," Mr Hernandez added. ...http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/5024562.stm